Copyright Policy

It is the policy of Institute of World Politics to uphold and comply with the U.S. Copyright Act. As defined at www.copyright.gov, "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works." The Copyright Act gives copyright owners specific exclusive rights; namely the rights to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the work publicly and to create "derivative" works. Unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted material is a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act. IWP requires all faculty, students and staff to honor copyright and not copy or share protected materials in any way that would violate the law to include peer-to-peer file sharing. IWP is required by law to take steps to prevent copyright infringement, and to respond appropriately to all complaints regarding copyright violations. There are certain allowable exceptions for U.S. academic institutions that permit a limited amount of copying without permission. The five exceptions to the exclusive rights of copyright holders are:

IWP students, faculty and staff must have permission from the copyright Holder, or a determination that "fair use" applies, before files are copied, made available, or shared on networks. The following websites are valuable resources for further exploration of copyright law and our obligations regarding their use: